


Mafic

by ckret2



Series: Red Sprite & the Golden Ones (Rodorah slowburn oneshots) [19]
Category: Godzilla (2014), Godzilla - All Media Types, Godzilla: King of The Monsters (2019)
Genre: Crack, Humor, Kaiju Linguistics, Language Barrier, M/M, Volcanoes, what happens when the writer spends weeks researching volcanoes to write One Lavay Boi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:54:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21944698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ckret2/pseuds/ckret2
Summary: Rodan takes the time to teach Ghidorah about the most important thing he’s going to need to know if he plans to live on Earth: which lava tastes better.
Relationships: King Ghidorah/Rodan
Series: Red Sprite & the Golden Ones (Rodorah slowburn oneshots) [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1476800
Comments: 5
Kudos: 77





	Mafic

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted Sept 18. This is part of an ongoing series of Rodorah one-shots. If you don’t want to read the others, all you need to know is: Ghidorah’s an empath, but a cruddy one who can only read/transfer emotions by head-to-head contact; Ghidorah doesn’t speak any Earth languages but is slowly learning Rodan’s; and Rodan’s never heard the word “Rodan” before and considers himself Nido.

The red sprite woke just before dusk, finally stirring himself and climbing out of the lava of the nearly-Antarctic volcano where they'd stopped to recuperate. Rather than the waves of slow cooling lava that the red sprite's own volcano left on his armor when he rose, this one produced long rivulets that rolled quickly down his armor and dripped back into the caldera, leaving behind thin strings like ribbons running down his wings and chest. As they always did when he rose from the lava, they watched in fascinated adoration as, for a moment, he glowed scarlet.

And then he made a faux retching noise, stuck out his tongue, screwed up his face, and did his best to shake off the lava. "Gross!" He went off into a muttered tirade that they didn't understand in the least, but that included the word "gross" another half dozen times.

"What is 'gross'?"

"It— Down."

Once they'd bent low enough, the red sprite headbutted First's head. They were overcome with a wave of revulsion and disdain.

"Aha." Gross.

With unmistakable derision, the red sprite said, "Mafic."

" _What?_ "

When they tried to pull back from the red sprite, he caught First's horns with his claws, pulled him back down, and—instead of headbutting him again—pressed First's forehead into the red sprite's own chest. They jerked out of the red sprite's grip, flustered, just to see him admiring the golden face-shaped imprint newly added to his cooling armor. Ah. It had been an accident the first time they'd done it a few days ago, but—he _liked_ being marked with their faces, then? Strange—but flattering. Third quickly curled around the red sprite's back and squeezed, leaving just a faint glittery gold impression over one shoulder. The red sprite momentarily tensed, but gave an appreciative chirp when he twisted around and saw the addition.

As they flew home, gliding high to avoid stirring up a storm, the red sprite patiently but emphatically explained to them the differences between mafic and felsic lava, and why felsic was _obviously_ superior to mafic in every way imaginable.

By the end of the lecture, they _still_ didn't know any of the red sprite's words for food, or units of time, or more than two emotions, or even basic body parts like "wings" or "legs"—but they sure as hell could tell a shield volcano from a stratovolcano, how chunky the lava from each was (specifically: stratovolcanoes’ felsic lava was delightfully chunky, while shield volcanoes’ mafic lava was nastily runny), and which tasted better.

In retrospect, maybe "lava" _was_ his word for food.

###

They got home after dark, but not so late that Nido thought he couldn't insist that the golden ones try some _proper, felsic_ lava before going to sleep.

For some reason, they refused to try it straight out of the crater; but he finally managed to persuade them to taste a bit after it had solidified.

"You see?" Nido said encouragingly, as their left head licked tentatively at the newly-cooled lava and the other two considered the flavor. "Good, yes?"

They exchanged a glance. "Felsic lava tastes... neutral," the middle one confessed. "Mafic tastes good," the right said.

"What!" Well, what did they know. Despite all of Nido's cajoling to the contrary, they'd _insisted_ on waiting for their food to get cold before tasting it. Clearly the flavor hadn’t survived the cooling process. "Mafic is _nasty_."

"Nido tastes mafic," the middle one pointed out.

Nido jerked his head back, staring at them in wide-eyed shock. How could they say something like that? Just—just announce his deepest shame like it was nothing?

They stared back at him. "What? You _are_ taste mafic," the left one said.

Did aliens have no sense of decency? Did cruel words mean nothing to them?!

Nido kicked them weakly in the knee. They made a mildly affronted noise. Then he climbed into the crater, quietly sank down, and disappeared beneath the surface.

He already regretted teaching them about lava.

###

He never did explain to them why he was so embarrassed to taste mafic.

**Author's Note:**

> Original post available on [tumblr](https://ckret2.tumblr.com/post/187811214582/mafic). Comments/reblogs there are very welcome (as are comments here)!


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